Nomenclatural updating of the Manitoba Museum Herbarium

Data from herbaria are used to assess the extinction risk of plants, and subsequently, create conservation plans. However, some research suggests that identification errors, including misidentification and use of outdated nomenclature, in herbaria are widespread. At the Manitoba Museum, nomenclatural updating of vascular plant specimens occurred from 1999 to 2001. However, due to staff time limitations, close examination of specimens did not occur. As a result, some misidentified specimens were not detected. In the 2010s, we began a second updating project, but this one both verified the identities, and updated names, of the vascular plant specimens in our collection. Of the 17 338 specimens of spore-producing plants, conifers, monocots, and dicots examined so far, nearly a third were either misidentified, or labelled with an out-of-date name. We describe the process that resulted in the correction of taxonomic errors through five case studies. We noted seven factors that influenced identification accuracy including (1) lack of staff time, (2) lack of good identification resources, (3) lack of expertise/familiarity, (4) poor specimen quality, (5) temporary inaccessibility of the collection, (6) superficial similarity of species, and (7) lack of technology. Changes are now being implemented at the Museum to help reduce identification errors in the future.